


Starting in the Middle

by Biana_Delacroix



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Rufus is a great friend, love realizations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9917984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biana_Delacroix/pseuds/Biana_Delacroix
Summary: He's in the middle of it before he even realized his feelings had changed





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a headcanon from victoria-tonks.tumblr.com, I'm continuing to dip my toes into Lyatt fic because we need something to do while we wait for renewal news.

 

> _I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun._
> 
> _\- Jane Austen_

His skin itched with a restlessness he couldn’t shake, even now that everything was safe. He kept looking up, into doorways, around corners, expecting Lucy to come back, to confirm that she’s safe.

She is, obviously, but that’s not going to stop Wyatt from worrying.

He stalked the corridors until the techs started shooting him odd glances, and that was when Wyatt knew he needed to get some air before they all convened again for their last trip.

_Last._ It sounded so final, it _was_ final. This was it, once Lucy had her sister back there would be no more stomach rolling trips through time, thrown into different worlds and fighting to protect the past. Ask him a few months ago and he would’ve said that he was glad everything was finally coming to an end, but now…

Now he’d miss it. No point in lying to himself.

Wyatt came out into the large space that housed the charging Lifeboat, easily spotting Rufus near his computer. He collapsed in a chair next to the Pilot, noting the worry that was written all over his face. Jiya, probably, but the last Wyatt had heard, she was making a great recovery.

“How’s Jiya?”

Rufus snapped his head up, like he hadn’t even realized Wyatt was next to him. “She’s fine,” he finally replied, and he meant it, but the worry was still there. Wyatt couldn’t blame him.

“One last trip huh?” Rufus asked, changing the subject.

Wyatt nodded absentmindedly, his mind still running a mile a minute from their last jump. He noticed Rufus watching him oddly and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you could use a drink.”

Wyatt snorted, “We’re going on a mission soon.”

“Pretty sure you were drunk the first time we took this thing out,” Rufus pointed out, and they both cracked up at the same time, the pressures of the last forty-eight hours relaxed for a moment.

“Come on man, you need this,” Rufus stood up and shrugged on his jacket, leaving Wyatt no choice but to go along and follow. They didn’t go far, only wandering to the bar they liked to frequent after missions, when they’d nearly been killed by somebody who’d been dead for fifty years and they all just needed a drink. It felt wrong to do this without Lucy, but Wyatt knew they’d do this again. Rufus would drag Jiya along once she’d been discharged, they’d talk Agent Christopher into loosening up for a night, invite Mason now that they knew he wasn’t a complete ass, and maybe even Amy too because he doubted Lucy would want to leave her sister’s side for a while once she got her back.

(For a moment though, he wondered what it would be like for it to be just the two of them, him and Lucy for one night with no one else to interrupt. It’s kind of startling how much he wants to know what that would be like.)

Five minutes later and there’s a glass of bourbon in front of him, enough that he knows it’ll take the edge off, but not enough to make him useless. He’d promised Lucy that he’d see their last ride through, he doesn’t want to let her down. Rufus watched him across the table, and Wyatt could feel the other man’s questions practically on the tip of his tongue.

“Spit it out.”

Rufus fidgeted for a moment before finally speaking his mind. “I just – I wanted to know how you were holding up.”

Wyatt looked up, frowning. “ _You_ were the one that got shot. And nearly lost his girlfriend.”

Rufus winced, but pressed on. “Yeah, and I _know_ I’m fine. But when we came back without Lucy…”

Wyatt closed his eyes, realizing what Rufus was getting at. To say that leaving Lucy behind with Flynn was hard was an understatement. It had literally taken every fibre of willpower he had to turn around and walk away from her in 1954, to watch the Lifeboat’s doors close with her on the other side, to not buckle her in and know with absolute certainty that he was doing everything in his power to keep her safe.

Their first priority had been getting Jiya medical attention, but as soon as they knew she’d be fine, Wyatt had been left to wonder and worry and wonder some more about Lucy, whether she’d be fine and if Flynn was keeping her safe or if the bastard had double-crossed her. He’d sworn on the graves of his grandparents that if Flynn did anything to her, he’d hunt him down with the single-minded obsessiveness that had driven his hunt for Jessica’s killer.

Only this time, he wouldn’t be failing.

Rufus watched him from across the table, still wary, Wyatt sighed heavily. “What do you want me to say?”

“You were a wreck waiting for her.”

“We were all worried!”

“Yeah, we were, but _you_ …”

He didn’t need to finish his sentence for Wyatt to know what he was getting at. And maybe he wasn’t an engineer, or a historian, but Wyatt was smart, smart enough to realize everybody around him and Lucy were starting to see the path they were on. Those who didn’t already think something was there would’ve got a first hand view when Wyatt had nearly bit the head off of anybody who came near him as they waited for Lucy to appear in 2017.

In retrospect, he wasn’t subtle.

Rufus had taken another gulp of beer, looking for the right words. “Look, I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to lose Jessica,” he said carefully, as Wyatt’s face dropped at the mention of his late wife. “And I know how much you wanted her back, how hard you fought for it.”

“What’re you getting at?”

“I’m just saying, it’s cool if you want to talk about…everything.”

Wyatt smiled grimly, he knew his friend meant well. And honestly, it wasn’t the worst idea in the world because God knew it had been a while since anyone had heard the full story. “What do you want to know?”

Rufus seemed genuinely surprised Wyatt agreed, but shrugged. “Start wherever.”

So Wyatt started just after he found out Jessica had been killed, how he’d been told, the horrors of the investigation, living day in and day out with no answers. Rufus leant a sympathetic ear and Wyatt was grateful, the weight of it all lifting slightly from his chest. He told Rufus more than he thought he would, the words spilling out until he felt he could rest a little. And then after pausing –

“It just sucks, you know? Not being able to keep someone safe.”

Rufus nodded sagely, taking one more swig from his bottle. “Don’t have to tell me, man. I’ve seen you these past few days.”

His words grabbed Wyatt’s attention and he stared at Rufus for a second, thoughts racing. He’d been talking about Jess this entire time…but the last few days rattled around in his head, his anger at everybody, at himself, his desperation to have news that Lucy was safe, that he hadn’t let her down, that he hadn’t lost another woman he _loved_ –

“I love her.”

Rufus looked him over sympathetically. “Well…yeah.”

_“Yeah?!”_

His friend couldn’t hold in a wider grin, leaning forward across the table. “You love Lucy. I mean, maybe you’re not _fully_ in love with her and no one expects you to suddenly get married – actually I think Jiya has a bet with one of the techs – but you definitely care about her.”

“You care about her!” Wyatt sputtered.

“Yeah I do, the same way I care about you, like I’d care about anybody I went time travelling with regularly. She’s my friend and I wanted her safe too – but come on, I see you two together, I have _eyes._ Do _not_ tell me nothing went down with Bonnie and Clyde because you both blush whenever I bring it up and you don’t even notice.”

Wyatt was pretty sure he was blushing now, remembering the warmth of Lucy in that tiny bed and the pleasant weight of her draped over him on the couch. To say nothing of the way his mind had replayed their kiss over and over and over, much more than one would expect from a man who claimed to be completely hung up on the memory of a dead woman.

“Shit. I love Lucy,” Wyatt exhaled.

“The show?”

“Shut up.”

Rufus grinned at him, leaning back in his seat. “Well, at least Jiya’ll be glad you realized it. She’s got big money on you guys. And hey, I’m pretty sure the fiancé is out of the way. I think the guy was jealous of you.”

Wyatt shook his head, this new realization of his still sinking in. “How am I just now realizing this?” he asked aloud.

“We have weird lives, things happen.”

“Yeah but – I don’t think I even realized I was falling for her,” Wyatt insisted, trying to make Rufus understand. “It’s like I’m in the middle of it and I don’t even know where it started.”

Rufus was infuriatingly calm about all of this, he just kept smiling knowingly. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said, finishing off his beer. “But you should probably tell Lucy.”

As if she knew she was being talked about, Lucy’s name flashed across the face of Wyatt’s phone, buzzing relentlessly.

“Perfect timing,” said Rufus, leaning forward in anticipation.

Wyatt rolled his eyes, but a smile broke out before he could help himself, answering the call with a fond, “Hey, what’s up?”

“ _Wyatt, something happened._ _”_

It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water on him. In a split-second, his instincts were lit, his nerves were on edge and he was in instant solider mode. A mantra formed in his mind, beating like a steady rhythm.

_Find Lucy. Protect Lucy. Find Lucy. Protect Lucy._

It was her _voice_. Her voice that had been bright and happy now had a distinct edge of fear and he knew that did not come lightly. “Where are you?!” he barked, already on his feet and heading out the door, Rufus on his heels.

“ _8th and Denman, you have to hurry._ _”_

“I’m on my way.”

The call cut and Wyatt felt the physical loss of her voice, of not having her where he could see that she was safe.

“What happened?!” Rufus panted, matching his quick strides.

“Lucy’s in trouble, we need to help her.”

To his credit, Rufus didn’t falter, just pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Agent Christopher.”

Wyatt nodded robotically, his mind already on the mission in front of him. Find Lucy and protect her. He didn’t know from what, he didn’t know what they were facing. But he knew he wasn’t going to lose someone he loved.

Not again. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked!


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